Tracing the evolution of every currency in the world.
Joined October 2026
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What do you do with vast quantities of old paper currency? East Germany decided to bury it.
After unification, 100 billion East German marks were entombed in old Nazi-era tunnels dug with concentration camp labor.
The cash was safe (so they thought)
familytreeofmoney.org/storie…
Two enterprising men found their way into the tunnels in the early 2000s, and were eventually caught with uncirculated East German notes that were valuable in the collectibles market.
The cash hoard was exhumed and incinerated to prevent further looting.
familytreeofmoney.org/storie…
Before Benjamin Franklin’s face was on the $100 bill, he was making colonial money harder to fake… by using leaves.
A 1764 Pennsylvania note used intricate leaf veins, along with a less subtle security feature:
“To Counterfeit is DEATH.”
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Counterfeiters did learn to imitate the leaf prints eventually.
This wasn’t unforgeable money. But it was an early round in the security arms race still playing out in cryptography, paper currency, and cybersecurity
The full story:
familytreeofmoney.org/storie…
In 1711, Osaka audiences watched a young courier ruin his life by tearing open a packet of gold. The play was Meido No Hikyaku (The Courier for Hell in English).
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Chūbei is in love with Umegawa, a courtesan whose freedom he cannot afford to buy.
Chūbei is carrying 300 ryō as a courier, and gets a bold idea. He breaks the seal and spends his client’s money to redeem Umegawa’s contract.
I won’t ruin the play, but Meido No Hikyaku gives a glimpse at the custom of ryō being exchanged in unopened packets, sealed by prominent (and trustworthy?) moneychangers.
Learn more about the ryō and any other currency at the Family Tree of Money:
familytreeofmoney.org/curren…
A duck egg once cost $5,000 Taiwan dollars.
Taiwan’s dollar began in 1946, after Japanese rule ended. The Bank of Taiwan issued dollar notes to replace the oldTaiwanese yen still in circulating.
Within 3 years, prices had risen sharply. By 1949, a duck egg cost 5,000 dollars.
Learn more about the history of the Taiwan dollar and the (often surprising) evolution of every money in history: familytreeofmoney.org/curren…